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Getting Surround Working

  • 25 October 2019
  • 7 replies
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M
Userlevel 1
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I have a Samsung UN32J5205 TV.  It’s only 32”.  I know that’s small for all of you, but I have tunnel vision, and it’s the largest I can manage.  Anyway, I am a bit discouraged.  I bought the PlayBase and 2x Sonos One speakers.  I have the app setup with them as surrounds.  I bought an audio extractor/HDMI switcher so that I could get the best vocal sound from source to my Sonos system.  With the switcher, if I have ARC turned on, I don’t get sound.  I called Samsung, and they are saying my TV doesn’t support ARC.  If I have ARC turned off, I do get sound out of the PlayBase, but the 5.1 input puts nothing through my Sonos One speakers.  Am I going to have to buy a whole new TV?  :(  IF and only IF there is no other way, which 32” TV should I buy to where I don’t have to use the splitter to get untouched audio from the TV into the SoundBase?  Thanks much in advance for input/feedback.

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Best answer by Airgetlam 26 October 2019, 00:07

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7 replies

Airgetlam

Ok, let’s work this one thing at a time.

You've got a 32 inch TV, along with a PLAYBASE and an HDMI switch with an optical output. This is good, we just likely need to make some adjustments, and it will all work.

HDMI-ARC should be ignored, it has no impact on your situation, unless you’re trying to use apps that exist on the TV. If so, things are a bit more complex, so let us know.

In general, all of your devices should be connected to your inputs on the HDMI switch. Cable boxes, satellite boxes, game consoles, whatever you have.

The TV is connected to the HDMI output on the HDMI switch, and connected to any HDMI port you want to use on your TV.

The optical cable is connected to the HDMI switch output, directly to the input on your PLAYBASE.

Now you’re done with cabling, it’s time to deal with settings. 

On any device that you have connected with an HDMI cable to the HDMI switch, go in to the audio settings. Each device needs to be told to send only a Dolby Digital signal. If it is sending anything else, you won’t get a proper sound from the PLAYBASE and surrounds.

In your setup, the actual audio settings on the TV don’t make a difference, since you are pulling the audio out before it reaches the TV.

So, once you’ve set all the connected device’s audio settings, you can look in the Sonos controller to see if the PLAYBASE is receiving the correct information. Open up the controller while you’re playing something on the TV, and click on settings. Then click on system. Scroll down to system settings, and click on about my system.

In that report, you’ll see information about all your speakers, and what they are doing at the moment you ran the report. Look under your PLAYBASE and the line that starts with Audio In, which is followed by what the PLAYBASE is receiving, either stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1. If it is anything other than Dolby Digital 5.1, you need to look at one of two things. Either the program being played doesn’t have a Dolby Digital soundtrack, like many various news shows, talk shows, etc., or you need to go back and check the audio settings on the device you’re using to feed that signal to the switch and ultimately the TV.

This is a lot of typing, feel free to ask any question you need to. And I have gone from top to bottom, you may be able to skip some of the earlier steps, as you’ve already done them.

Bruce
Ken_Griffiths

Mystik1,

Also, just to add to Bruce’s excellent/detailed post above, make sure your audio extractor actually supports DD 5.1 and if it has a switch saying either 5.1 (or pass-through), then ensure that option is selected. See example screenshot attached. 

 

 

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Thank you so much, Bruce.  Your help was so much better than the Sonos support when I called them.  You should be working for Sonos!  ;)

After reflecting on this and what I actually did, I may know the issue.

I may have played a file that was DD Plus.  I am using Kodi software on a HTPC.  It has an option called  "Enable Dolby Digital (AC3) Transcoding".  I had assumed that with this setting enabled, it would downgrade DD Plus to DD so that I would still have 5.1.  However, it seems that is not the case.  I have connected it back up (and had my TV fall to the ground for good measure), and I can confirm I am getting 5.1 when the file is not Plus.  Stereo when it is.

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

Thanks, Ken!  It does have 5.1 and Pass-through.  From my understanding, the result should be about the same with either one of those...since Pass-through just sends it untouched, and 5.1 is well...5.1.  Is that correct?  Pass-through should be used if it were 7.1, I know.  As is, either of those will do the same, right?  Neither recommended over the other?

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

I can't stress enough how much I appreciate the replies here.  Before getting them, I had switched it back to the TV and was thinking it was a fail and would be returning it.  I'm so happy to have it setup and seemingly working now.  :)

Ken_Griffiths

mystik1,

I have my devices connected to a new TV, which has a setting of 'Auto' and 'Pass-Through’  ...and mine works well on 'Pass-Through', so you should be fine with that.

Airgetlam

Your logic seems impeccable to me. DD+ is based on DD, but it isn’t quite the same, and if you didn’t specify DD in software, it’s entirely possible it wouldn’t “know”.

That’s actually one of the features of HDMI-ARC, part of the HDMI-CEC protocol, in which the hub device, the TV, gathers and passes information back and forth. In our use case, it would get data from the Sonos Beam (or Sonos Amp, the other Sonos device with HDMI-ARC)  that it can only deal with/accept DD. Then the TV tells the sending device (cable box, etc) what to send, and in most cases, as long as all devices speak the same language, it works.

In your case (and in mine, and many others), we use optical, which is a one way signal. There’s no talkback involved, so you have to be sure that all devices in the chain are set to the correct codec. If your PLAYBASE were connected to your TV, you’d need to ensure both the TV, and the device feeding it were set to Dolby Digital.

Ultimately (and you may not care), there are some devices, such as most Roku models, that can’t actually send a “plain” Dolby Digital signal. In the Roku case, they’re often only able to send a Dolby Digital + signal, which causes no end of complaints here. It’s not really a Sonos problem, but becuse the Sonos speaker is the last in the chain of evidence, they get the blame :)

I’ve rambled on. My apologies.

Oh, and you’re most welcome. As much as I appreciate many phone support folks, they don’t always have the knowledge necessary for a deep understanding of the systems they’re supporting, and they end up working from a script, or even incomplete knowledge. I truly think that Sonos does a pretty darn good job of training their folks, but at the end of the day, there’s always one person who I end up talking to when I call a company that just doesn’t “get” it. I have the luxury here in this forum of picking and choosing which posts I reply to, and leave the ones that I don’t completely understand to those who do, and try not to appear too dumb when I do answer.

Enjoy your Sonos!

Bruce
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